


I Never Thought I'd Live to See the Day (when everybody's words got in the way)

by DoomedTemperament (orphan_account)



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crushes, Humor, Letters, M/M, Post-Canon, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 18:56:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9285533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/DoomedTemperament
Summary: Operating under the pen name Kazutaka to maintain a sense of anonymity, he’d become a source of interest for students on campus. He’d even been given a personal email to take requests, and he found his inbox giving him notifications more and more frequently as time passed.But he had never gotten an email like this.(In which Takao secretly runs an advice column for the university newspaper, and receives a series of abnormal letters.)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Your Horoscope For Today](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2511671) by [merycula (thanksillpass)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thanksillpass/pseuds/merycula). 



> I'd like to start this off by saying this is very much still a WIP. This chapter is about all that I have done, and I'm struggling to write more, but I figured I'd at least publish this much just for the sake of not leaving it to gather dust (and because I'm actually sorta pleased with how this part turned out anyway.)
> 
> This is after canon, where Takao and Midorima have graduated and are now attending the same university (through sheer luck on Takao's part.)
> 
> Title from "Everybody Talks" by Neon Trees.

_Dear Kazutaka,_

_To be succinct, I find myself feeling odd around a particular friend of mine, and I am unsure of what it means. We have known each other since high school, and continue to talk on campus to this day. I feel compelled to initiate physical contact more often than before, and I find myself wanting to respond to their teasing. It feels almost uncomfortable to think about. What do you suppose this might be? And is there any way to stop it?_

_Sincerely,_

_It’s Not Easy Being Green._

\---

Takao stared at the email, perplexed.

It had only been two months since he had joined the university’s weekly newspaper committee. The group had been woefully unsuccessful in garnering student interest, and considering that most of his classes were electives (meaning he had more free time than he expected,) he had decided to help out on a whim; It was a paying job, and hey, easy money, right? Of course, journalism wasn’t exactly his strong suit, and upon actually reading an issue of the paper, he had found himself bored to tears. Jokingly, he had offered to make an advice column for students to submit problems to, just to spice things up. To his surprise, the rest of the staff agreed.

And so, somehow, he found himself running a column in the school paper, which was rapidly growing in popularity. The editor (a fellow student named Kojima) had called him “relatable and likable,” and apparently he was better at giving advice than he’d initially thought. Operating under the pen name Kazutaka to maintain a sense of anonymity, he’d become a source of interest for students on campus. He’d even been given a personal email linked to the school website to take requests, and he found his inbox giving him notifications more and more frequently as time passed.

But he had never gotten an email like this.

The wording seemed incredibly stilted and overly-formal, and the subject matter was even more bizarre. Takao read over the email once more, squinting at his laptop as he laid on his bed. It was getting late, but he was too curious about the message. If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear that the way it was written was familiar.

For a brief moment, he entertained the thought that the sender might have been Midorima. The writing style was eerily similar, and writing to an advice column about… well, anything, actually, seemed like something he would do. But then he remembered that aside from the rest of Shuutoku’s former teammates and the rest of the weirdos from Teiko, Midorima didn’t have too many friends, if any. In fact, Takao was probably one of the only people he was genuinely close to, and thinking about anything further than that was a dangerous path that Takao didn’t feel like going down.

Eventually, he decided that figuring out the sender would have to wait. Not only was it pointless- the messages were anonymously submitted through the school website, meaning that tracking down the sender would be virtually impossible- but he needed to write the response before the following morning so he could include it in his column.

 _Well,_ he thought to himself, _I might as well take a stab at it._

\---

_Dear It’s Not Easy Being Green,_

_I happen to have a pretty good feeling of what your problem is, if it even is a problem- you have all the classic symptoms of a crush! There’s nothing wrong with having one, so I don’t know why you’d want to get rid of it. Congratulations on your emotional discovery!_

_Best of luck to you,_

_Kazutaka._

\---

Two days after Takao had presented the latest article for his column, the paper was printed.

Takao was rather pleased with himself; Kojima had complimented him on his dutifulness, and mentioned how much revenue the university was making now that the paper had gained popularity.

“Considering the size of this campus, you’re practically a miracle worker- I bet at least every other student has been buying copies!”

Takao grinned as he leaned against one of the office’s filing cabinets.

“Don’t you think you’re exaggerating just a bit?”

Kojima laughed, taking one of the archive papers and lightly whacking Takao on the head with it.

“Maybe, but you’re also underestimating yourself. We’d still be making pennies if you hadn’t come along.”

Takao smirked, thinking of his next paycheck, and stood up straight to head for the door. His anatomy class would be starting shortly, and he needed to get going.

He arrived to the lecture hall roughly four minutes before class started, meaning he had time to mingle for a bit. It was one of his favorite classes, if only because he got to share it with Midorima. As much as they texted (rather, as much as Takao texted Midorima, with varying levels of exasperation in response) and as often as they tried to play streetball with each other, they weren’t able to talk to each other face-to-face as frequently as they had back in high school- a fact that saddened him, considering how close he liked to think they were.

Right as he was about to take a seat next to Midorima, he glanced at the messenger bag that was sitting on the table, and noticed what appeared to be a small stack of papers sticking out of it. Curious, he unzipped the bag, ignoring the offended noise Midorima made, and looked inside.

“Wow Shin-chan, I didn’t know you read the school newspaper!”

Midorima frowned and snatched the bag back out of Takao’s grip.

“A warm ‘hello’ to you too.”

Takao pulled out the chair next to Midorima and seated himself, then placed his chin on his hand with a confident smile.

“You know, I’m actually on the newspaper staff.”

“So you’ve mentioned before,” Midorima said, removing a pen from his bag and idly clicking the top. “But you’ve never told me what position you hold.”

“I’m glad that you care to ask, but I’m afraid it’s a secret,” Takao teased in a singsong voice, causing Midorima to purse his lips. Ignoring his friend’s huffy mood, Takao continued, “So what’s your favorite part about it? Is it the sports section? The comics? The advice column?”

“Sports and current events, obviously. Comics don’t hold my interest, and the advice column is…” Midorima trailed off, and shook his head. Takao raised an eyebrow.

“The advice column is… what?”

“Absurd.”

Takao frowned, mostly for the blow to his ego.

“What makes you think that?”

Unfortunately, Takao didn’t receive an answer to his question, as the professor strode into the classroom at that moment. Midorima seemed intent on focusing on the lesson and notes, meaning the end of that discussion. By the time the lecture had ended, Takao was so preoccupied with trying to figure out how he’d manage his reading assignment and several online quizzes all in one night that he completely forgot about their talk.

At least, until he got another email.

**Author's Note:**

> Come and rant to me at doomedtemeperament.tumblr.com !


End file.
